Freddy Adu

He was called into Klinsmann's First camp. He was in camp prior to the Mexico Friendly at the Linc last August, but did not make the match day 18. I believe this was just prior to him signing with MLS and the Union.

 

This.

 

Fwiw, I've always kind of agreed w/ DoctorD: "With all respect, though, your comments are exactly what makes Freddy frustrating. If everything is set up for him, he will look brilliant."

For me, teams have to set things up for him or he simply won't impress. Teams who let him freelance in the middle (whether he starts there or pinches in, especially from the right), consciously look to feed him the ball, and have lots of off the ball running and some defensive cover are the teams he tends to shine for.

When teams don't do this, he looks poor or, perhaps, useful but not worth what he's paid (while I know that other Freddy fans disagree, this is how I'd characterize his Aris stint; useful player, worthy of starting, w/ solid moments, but probably not worth what they paid him).

The national team at the youth level has, more often than not, set everything up for him, and he's pretty consistently rewarded them. Against adults, he also seems to shine when we play to his strengths, whether it's against Argentina or Spain in friendlies, against CONCACAF teams in the Gold Cup, or against younger men's teams like Holland in the Olympics. I mean, seriously, he looks like the same guy, no matter how high or low the competition is.

At the club level, though, who's going to build around him to that degree? I, personally, think Philly's been fairly accommodating. I'm not sure he can expect to be much more of a focal point until he shows a bit more consistency. (The catch 22, of course, is that he may not show more consistency until he's the clear focal point. In a slower, more technical league where referees call every little foul, maybe he'd get that shot. In MLS, though, where he's often shoved off the ball w/ no whistle, it's kind of tough to expect sides to funnel the ball to him in the center of the pitch on every possession. Some posters, of course, think consistency is the entire problem, rather than the system or the league; maybe they're right, sometimes I wonder about that too; I can't help but feel the two things are related, though.)

In other words, it may not be the level, but the system and the setting. Play him the wrong way, and he may flounder even at the lowest levels. (For example, while not necessarily a low league, he didn't impress at that lowly team in Portugal, Belenenses.) Play to his strengths and he seems to do OK no matter how high the level.

At Philly, he's shown spurts of DP level play. Now, I don't think it's fair to expect Toronto or New York (1st half) level performances on a regular basis. But something in b/w what we saw last night and those performances ought to be the norm.

 

No matter how you slice it, he's not worth what we're paying him. We could take his $500k and pay for BOTH Pablo Mastroeni and Mauro Rosales... or, as another alternative, 5 more of Mrs. Farfan's kids.

 

Don't get me started on this. You have to look at the players' BRAND EQUITY. It's not simply a players salary vs (your perception of) his performance. Adu's name easily makes up the difference between those players. And it's not like we can simply sign rosales for that money. They have him at a steal, they won't just send him away. Also, I don't think adu is as terrible as people make him out to be. Considering the fact he plays a different position every game, is consistently double marked, and gets the shit kicked out of him, I think he's done well enough to be an MLS starter

 

Pablo would be a great replacement for Rigby! He was excellent on the rapids-sounders broadcast Saturday.

 

You're absolutely right. Didn't stop them from selling LeToux.

 

careful, you know if you post that 3 times someone shows up to give is more wisdom.

I'm sure Freddy brings a lot of money to the Union (owners) and to MLS (other owners) but in the W column and the trophies (what fans care about) then he doesn't bring it.

 

C'mon, you know we are all waiting for that.

 

You know what? A team full of Farfans - each with a different haircut - would be fun to watch...

 

Barfan rules.

 

God - this just raises my Adu Hate to new levels....what a douche! Just stay off twitter, you twit and put in a few consecutive performances that demonstrate to the fans that you're worth the money the club has 'invested' in you
He's got too much of a chip on his shoulder attitude for my liking. If he was banging them in and dominating other teams I wouldn't mind. And I don't buy this view that he's constantly double teamed, he goes down on the easiest of tackles most of the time and not when he's being double teamed....seriously, he's not that much of a threat

 

Hey, you don't know what people are saying to him on that? So he answers something in general big deal.

I have not seen him play in a very long time.

Anyone know what position he plays now. I always though he should be a left wing mid.

 

There's a skill deficit in MLS and US soccer in general, so he has the skill we want to see more of. Not sure how he perpetuates any hype, except with the occasional great half or game.

 

Carfan lacks vision, and should be benched for Carroll.

Seriously though, having highly skilled twins that were low draft picks is an endless source of fun. Garfan's hair is taking things to a new level this year.

 

As noted prior... when you get people going "Oh, Freddy Adu is on the team. Cool" and they don't follow soccer... that's brand equity.

Cosmos have been non existent for 20 years....

Beckham was stagnant for 2 years in the league, inconsistently appears at games - but is still advertised to be there (he can still assist and cross... but anything else? )

Yes. The only argument you have is "tihs is apples and oranges. These are well founded reports from the past that have succeeded, what has Adu ever done". Well, glad you asked. The only thing he's done comparitivly to the other 2 - get people who don't even follow the game go "Oh, ____ is there. Cool." A pique of interest.

Brand equity does not equate to quality. People are dumb, people are sheep, and just cause you think he is worth shit doesn't mean other people realize it.

A good example for Brand against quality - the Kardashians.

 

If we were talking about a baseball player, or a Premier League player, this would be a perfectly reasonable discussion to be having.

But the Union play in a salary cap league. You can't add "brand equity" to your $2.81m salary cap.

If an Macclesfield Town pays John Rooney more than he's worth but earns it back in jersey sales/publicity/etc., it doesn't hurt the team, because that money coming in can be used to pay his salary.

If Freddy's salary, or at least Freddy's cap hit + allocation, is more than he's worth, that hurts the team in competitive terms, no matter how many jerseys he sells, unless the team is using that money to buy a second DP.

Now, it's not clear just how much of an opportunity cost Freddy represents, because we don't know (1) if the Union are using allocation money to buy down his contract, or (2) if the Union successfully appealed to grandfather him into the Young DP rule for which he was not technically eligible (which would lower his cap hit from $350k to $200k).

Freddy is taking up somewhere between $200,000 and $400,000 of cap money that cannot be used to sign other players. Next year, he will cost at least $350,000 in cap money. Unless and until the Union sign some other DP, what matters is whether he can return that investment on the field.

 

There was more fellating going on in that thread than a 16 hour porno film. Jeez. I thought that I was going to get diabetes from all that sap.

Yeah, he scores goals. More than Freddy this year. He has 6 goals, while Freddy has 3, and one of Freddy's was from the spot. He led his team to a championship last year, and is helping to carry his team again. Also, he doesn't go on twitter and proclaim his greatness. He lets his game do the talking for him.

 

+1. Is Beckham actually underrated right now? Go rewatch the goal against Portland and try to argue that he is washed up.

 

Yet 15 years ago... when beckham was the same age as adu - i'm pretty sure he had the same attitude - minus twitter..cause it didn't exist.

You're comparing the maturity level of a 37 year old skilled, going to retire soon player versus a 22 year old with name recognition for having potential.

There is no argument for or against keeping adu. It's about specifics of other people's arguments getting pissed off. They say he lacks skill. Then we present them with the rest of the team to counter that argument. They then say he gets paid too much. This is a representation as to WHY and it's not really "that much" in relation.

First learn how to use html or whatever coding it is to break out the quote.

Also, do you know what's better than getting to the playoffs? A consistent team. I've always said this. Why would i want that over winning and getting to the playoffs? Well, if you have good consistency, then eventually there is success, and that includes winning. One falls into the other. you are leading the carriage before the horse - it just doesn't work.

And the only reason this thread exists is because of the BRAND he has around him of having skill (or skill yet to be tapped) and cause he gets paid too much and isn't performing. The fact that you create a thread specifically and only for him proves as much of the argument that he has a brand around him... Why do i say this? I don't see any porfirio lopez threads, nor Pajoy threads - as they are just as disliked.